This Is What I Have Studied

I have dedicated some effort to my father’s pharmacy business since my return home, and I have noticed that the sales role at the pharmacy shares several similarities with my prospective position at Global Markets.

• First, having a thorough understanding of the various OTC medicines is fundamental.
• Secondly, gaining insights into customers' preferences and needs is crucial for recommending the most suitable medication.
• Lastly, displaying confidence has a remarkable impact, even when customers possess some knowledge in this domain.

Hopefully I could be a good sales, before I leave and embark on the next chapter of my career.

What Did I Read

“Israel’s Window of Legitimacy in Gaza Is Shrinking.” Economist (London, England: 1843), The Economist, 22 Oct. 2023, https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/10/22/israels-window-of-legitimacy-in-gaza-is-shrinking.

On israel’s northern border with Lebanon, in the Upper Galilee, the air is heavy with acrid smoke as shelling ignites forest fires. Civilians have been evacuated and soldiers in helmets guard the junctions. Every hour or so, Hizbullah missiles explode inside the border, and Israel launches a counter-barrage aimed at the Iran-backed militia.

• Acrid: unpleasantly bitter or pungent
  • acrid smoke | an acrid smell.
• Shell: bombard with shells
  • several villages north of the security zone were shelled.
• Evacuate: remove (someone) from a place of danger to a safer place
  • several families were evacuated from their homes.

This is a country poised for war. To the east Israel is bombing Syrian airfields thought to be used to ship arms to militants. To the west an American aircraft-carrier strike group floats in the Mediterranean, with a second on its way to the region, to try to deter Iran and its proxies. In the south a vast Israeli invasion force awaits an order to enter the battle grounds of Gaza.

• Poise
  • Be poised: be ready and prepared to do something
    • teachers are poised to resume their attack on government school tests.

Fifteen days after Hamas’s attack on Israel, that ground invasion has yet to begin. One reason for the delay is a desperate flurry of last-minute diplomacy. On October 20th two American-Israeli hostages were released by Hamas after talks brokered by Qatar. A day later an international conference in Cairo called for a cease-fire. A limited amount of aid is now flowing across from Egypt into Gaza and negotiations over more hostage releases are ongoing.

• Flurry: a number of things arriving or happening suddenly and during the same period
  • a *flurry of* editorials hostile to the government.
• Hostage: a person seized or held as security for the fulfilment of a condition
  • three hostages were released but only after their families paid an estimated $200,000 to the guerrillas.

After seven hours, the meeting chaired by Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, ended inconclusively. Strained relationships and stress may be impeding decision making. The impetuous defence minister, Yoav Gallant, supported by some generals, wants to rush into another short, sharp war. Mr Netanyahu is chronically hesitant.

• Inconclusive: not leading to a firm conclusion or result; not ending doubt or dispute
  • three years of inconclusive negotiations | the medical evidence is inconclusive.
• Strained: showing signs of nervous tension
  • Jean's pale, strained face
• Impetuous: acting or done quickly and without thought or care
  • she might live to rue this impetuous decision.
• Chronically: in a long-lasting or habitual and problematic way
  • the office is chronically understaffed | a mission to create jobs for the chronically unemployed.

But Israel is also under pressure from allies to recalibrate its plans and move away from its customary approach of rapid shock-and-awe offensives to a more restrained, longer campaign.

• Calibrate: carefully assess, set, or adjust (something abstract)
  • the regulators cannot properly calibrate the risks involved.
• Customary: [attributive] according to a person's habitual practice
  • I put the kettle on for our customary cup of coffee.
• Restrained: characterized by reserve or moderation; unemotional or dispassionate.
  • his restrained, gentlemanly voice

Every Israeli war is fought watching the clock, as international condemnation grows and eventually America qualifies its support.

• Watch the clock: to pay close attention to the time remaining on the clock for a particular part of a game

America also appears to want a longer, more restrained campaign. Optically Mr Biden could not be more supportive of Mr Netanyahu’s government. “I am a Zionist,” he told the war cabinet on his visit to Israel.

• Zionist: a supporter of Zionism; a person who believes in the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel
  • the artist's parents were committed Zionists.

A very rapid further rise in civilian casualties in Gaza would be more likely to trigger a response from Hizbullah and Iran, and the second front that Israel dreads. On October 19th, the launch of missiles towards Israel from Iranian-backed militants in Yemen served as a reminder of the explosive potential of Iran’s various proxies (they were intercepted by the American navy). As importantly it would lead to a deeper estrangement with the Arab states with whom Israel had improving ties before the attacks on October 7th, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

• Casualty: a person killed or injured in a war or accident
  • the shelling caused thousands of civilian casualties.
• Hizbullah: an extremist Shiite Muslim group which has close links with Iran, created after the Iranian revolution of 1979 and active especially in Lebanon.
• Estrangement: the fact of no longer being on friendly terms or part of a social group
  • the artist's paintings from this period reflect his growing estrangement from his family.

A more controlled, longer campaign would still carry huge risks for Israel. Its forces could get bogged down: in 2014 soldiers got trapped in Shujaiyeh in northern Gaza and had to be protected by heavy artillery.

• Bog down: to cause (something) to sink in wet ground
  • The mud bogged down the car.